The guy that had the boat Has stage 3 Alzheimer's but his wife told me that he wanted it for a birthday so she bought him all the stuff but he never went to get certified and the gear was under his bed ever sinse. The dive shop did not put a sticker on the tank. he used a stamp that indents the new date into the metal itself. anyway thanks.

There should be a VIP sticker if done annually. The Hydro is required every 5 years. I have a 1973 Scuba Pro steel 72 that just passed hydro..can't say that for AL's...

All this talk - go get certified. You own the gear and diving is fun and cool. There is absolutely nothing wrong with 15-year-old gear. You've had it serviced so you're good to go. But your tank needs to be hydro'd as suggested above. for newbies, or people that don't dive much, renting tanks is a good way to go.

I believe you'll want to get some experience diving before you start diving your hull. Moving about underwater with gear is more awkward than you might think. It would be much safer -and easier - for you if you had more underwater time prior to trying a hull cleaning. I also agree with having someone spot/help you. You just never know. As for diving with a buddy at 5 feet, that seems to me like following the PADI safety rules beyond reason. I prefer to dive solo, and have done so many dozens, if not hundreds of times, and not at 5 feet. Disclaimer: solo diving beyond the 5 feet or so you're talking about should only be undertaken by very experienced, thoroughly-trained divers.

I like the advice about the 50 foot regulator hose and working without a tank on, that would make it much less cumbersome. I don't trust hookahs. I have no reason not to, it's just a thing. How can you go thru more than one tank at 5 feet?

I don't know about that suction cup thing. I would grab hold of a line rigged crossways under the hull and have your helper/ spotter reposition the line as you clean from one end of the hull to the other.

All this having been said, I freedive my hull with a mask in summer, and a 3mm wetsuit in spring and fall. It's easy. Don't overthink it.

I'm reminded of the perhaps apocryphal story of my running hero Emil Zatopek training in Czechoslovokia by taking a deep breath and running down the tree-lined country road until he passed out. When he woke, he would count the trees to see how far he had gone to see how fit he was. Easy to dismiss this outright, but don't. His training techniques are legendary to this day. He would run over a marathon distance of 400 or 800 meter repeats, fast, every day when actively training!

I understand Bill Rogers would smoke cigerettes before cross country races in college. He was fast despite this, not because of it. The "Czech Locomotive" must have had a hard time finding training partners! Pretty awsome.

I take it, you've never taught anyone to dive. A skilled diver could make an 80 cf tank last about 90 mins near the surface, maybe more. However, even that skilled diver is going to be out of breath as they scrub a hull and breath more deeply than usual. So take off some margin from that and tell me how big the hull is. There is some point where the amount of work and the time in the bottle intersect.

Add newbie to it and I wager 30 minutes. I've had students in my past that have cleaned out an 80 cf tank in the training pool doing little more than sitting there doing mask work. Huffing and puffing like they were going burst a vein in fear.

Experience calms one down and more experience allows one to regulate their breathing cadence.

I take it, you've never taught anyone to dive. A skilled diver could make an 80 cf tank last about 90 mins near the surface, maybe more. However, even that skilled diver is going to be out of breath as they scrub a hull and breath more deeply than usual. So take off some margin from that and tell me how big the hull is. There is some point where the amount of work and the time in the bottle intersect.

Add newbie to it and I wager 30 minutes. I've had students in my past that have cleaned out an 80 cf tank in the training pool doing little more than sitting there doing mask work. Huffing and puffing like they were going burst a vein in fear.

Experience calms one down and more experience allows one to regulate their breathing cadence.

I was suggesting that the OP get some experience. This is in part to keep from hoovering a tank. Never having done it, I don't know how long a tank lasts at 5 feet, but since you can get an easy hour out of one at 35 feet, I'd bet you can get two hours out of one at 5 feet.

Add in scrubbing - my boat is much more modest than yours - I'm sure I can do my whole 32 footer in a half hour. But of course, I am in fresh water so it's just slime.

Anyhow, for a modest boat, I still think a tank would do it, unless it is encrusted as the OP found his when he bought it. Of course, I've been wrong many times.

Myself at 56 and friends who are as old as 70 do fine with a snorkel cleaning boats up to 35' with 7' draft

BUT as we mostly race they get wiped down weekly and it rarely takes more than a soft washcloth or sponge and is a nice way to cool down after work on weeknight

In the Northport area due to the amount of nitrogen from the sewer plant the barnacle larvae are rather prolific in season and it gets pretty ugly if you let it go long enough for then to gain a foothold

I agree with all the tips about safety and getting properly trained. Concerning gear, my experience has been electric hookah with a full face mask is the hot ticket for bottom cleaning. No tank capacity limit to downtime under a boat, no refills, little bulk while diving and if you get a 12vdc unit, you can have cleaning or repair access almost anywhere or anytime. That said you do lose flexibility of use since you have a surface unit to deal with, but we are talking bottom cleaning here! YMMV
DD

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Now thats the the meat of this topic. I wanted to take care of it my self and save the $75 bucks a month I have paid all summer. So I will do it... I will get trained and dive, dive,dive. Sounds like fun. I can do some beach stuff in my skiff while I learn at the beach and river looking for teeth. this summer I will free dive without the tank at the dock and see if I can clean the bottom without tanks.

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